Mowing LK3054 finish mower

[OFarrell]

Does anyone run wide area finish mowers with these tractors? I would like to pull an 10-12 foot mower. I have been looking at the landpride AFM4211 and Bush hog TD-1100. Any thoughts?

 

[wallace]

Your asking a lot out of that tractor.
You would be running every last little ounce of power that tractor has.
Hope your running fairly level ground

 

[manganos]

I ran a 6' wide First Choice finish mower with mine and it is all it wanted. It did fine but I wouldn't even try anything bigger then that.

 

[mark.r]

I can't even begin to see it working out very well . . . and if it does it may just be the slowest mowing job in the history agriculture. I run 7ft. finish mower with my DK45 and all though I can mow in mid range flat out I can tax the tractor if get into some heavy wet stuff and don't lift.

 

[OFarrell]

What hp/size tractor should I consider? This is going to be used to cut 10 acres bi-weekly.

 

[mark.r]

What hp/size tractor should I consider? This is going to be used to cut 10 acres bi-weekly.

I think it depends on the mower you are looking at. Do you need a gang of finish mowers for 10 acres? I can't see why you would unless you are cutting something like a park or golf course. Those gang mowers are limited unless you have another small lawn tractor/zero turn type mower for smaller more intimate mowing. Furthermore, they are expensive just for 10 acres. I would save my money and by a large 3pt finish mower and go that route. I have 4.5-5 acres of pasture to cut plus I do my neighbors stuff with either the finish mower or the rotary. One is 7ft. and the other is 6ft. and there is no way a gang mower would work with the exception of my large pasture. I would have it done it about 20 minutes but then what. I spent a large chunk of change on it.

Either way I'd be looking at a 35-40 horse tractor. Are you doing anything else besides mowing?

 

[OFarrell]

I've got a 52" Exmark but that's way to slow for 10 acres. I won't be doing anything else on this 10 acre lot but mowing. I'm trying to minimize the amount of time spent on this lot. I did look at 3 point single deck finish mowers but going from a 52" deck to a 72" deck didn't seem like that much of a difference. I would imagine that the tractor puts more hp to the ground than the 52" Exmark.

Mark.r how long does it take you to do 5 acres with the 6 or 7 ft mower?

 

[MichiganIron]

A good rule of thumb for Finish Mowing is 3-4 pto hp per foot of mower width. That number can change up or down depending on conditions, but it is a good place to start.

 

[mark.r]

I've got a 52" Exmark but that's way to slow for 10 acres. I won't be doing anything else on this 10 acre lot but mowing. I'm trying to minimize the amount of time spent on this lot. I did look at 3 point single deck finish mowers but going from a 52" deck to a 72" deck didn't seem like that much of a difference. I would imagine that the tractor puts more hp to the ground than the 52" Exmark.

Mark.r how long does it take you to do 5 acres with the 6 or 7 ft mower?

It take me about 3 hours to do it all with the 84" finish mower.

Do you know what the cost of the Landpride gang finish mowers are? At one time I had heard 7k and another time I had heard 12K. I friend of mine had one that he inherited from the owner of the own he purchased along with a NH TC45 or TC55 tractor he never used it but I know his wife sold it CHEAP on craigslist. So cheap I don't think they spoke for a week or so. At the time I didn't have a tractor that could pull or I would have bought it just out of principle.

 

[MichiganIron]

Figure about $1000/ft of width for a BEFCO Flex-Wing Mower.